Acclimating to heat?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Guy

It's possible that if you acclimate to the summer wx in the Rio you will find a 60deg morning in Philly chilly.
We don't dive over the side much to cool off unless the water is nice. The water in the Rio is not nice.

60F is F'ing freezing! I get out blankets, jackets, wool socks, and my old watch cap.

The water is always a pleasant temp on the Rio...and there are hot springs in it too in case it ever gets close to 60F! It is river/lake water so not clear, but still pleasant for swimming...the locals have eaten most of the Croc's.

[TacomaSailor]

I was an almost native of the Pacific NW where a warm day is 60 degrees and we are down to sandals and little shorts at 70 degrees. If the sun is also shining those two numbers are lowered by 5 degrees. MY wife was a born there, lifetime native of Puget Sound. We ran or bicycled everyday of the year no matter what the temp. I ran in shorts and a light wind breaker at 35 degrees. We were hardy!

We thought we would die during our initial foray to the warm summer of Western Mexico sailing !

Our first summer in the North Sea of Cortez we did not see a temperature below 85 from mid-July until mid-October and I mean not at any time during the day or night.

I would wake up at 2 AM and go for a swim, climb back onto the boat and I could not tell if the water on my belly was sweat or seawater. The sea water cooled refrigerator kept shutting off because the 93 degree sea water was above the max temp for cooling the compressor.

I hated it!

By the time the 2nd summer rolled around I felt that 78 was the minimum air and water temperature for swimming or diving. I learned to sleep easily and comfortably in an 85 degree cabin.

By the third summer 80 degree air felt cool and I looked forward to the 90 degree afternoons. I came to enjoy 92 degree bed sheets.

FANS - lots of FANS and lot's of opening hatches, portlights, wind scoops are essential.

The only time it was really uncomfortable was when the humidity exceeded 80% and the air was still. Fortunately, the upper Sea of Cortez is a desert and most of the time it was 20% - 40% humidity with a steady breeze.

Evaporative cooling is astounding in 95 degree shade, 88 degree water, 20% humidity. Water on bare skin in that breeze is downright chilly!

SO - Yes you do acclimate!

The big problem is that when you go home you may be miserable.

After spending 2000 - 2004 in San Diego and the Sea of Cortez we took our boat back to Puget Sound. We found that we no longer enjoyed boating in the cool weather up there. I found that I could no longer even bicycle in 55 degree air.

We tried to re-acclimate to 50 - 60 degree weather but just could not do it. In 2010 we sailed back to San Diego to try to find consistent 75 - 85 degree weather.

[mrohr]

Fans,Swimming,Fans, Bimini, Fans ,Dodger, Fans, Buckets of seawater sloshed on deck, Fans, Keep out of the sun, Fans,wear a hat, Fans, Avoid sunburn, Fans.

I have 4 fans on my smallish boat: 2 personal battery(4 D cell) last forever, store anywhere. Caframo. 1 permanent mounted over nav station that can be rotated into the main salon and down unto the settee. Caframo ,smallest size, also cheap and negligible draw on house batteries.1 larger but storable,fan that runs on shore power if that option is available. Paid $ 20, but worth getting the most powerful that can be stored AND mounted for maximum effect.
I tried Zees suggestion of O2 cool…..junk…good idea but poor execution.

…………………………..luv you all………mike…………………………………………………..